A Holy Week with eight times fewer patients in ICUs due to covid-19

But there is a figure that is ostensibly different from that of time ago: that of those admitted to ucis. This April 13, at the gates of Easter, there 53 seriously ill by coronavirus throughout Catalonia: last year, the Bridge (which began on April 1) started with 418 people in ucis and, in 2020, with 1,507. The figures reflect that currently patients in ICUs are eight times less that a year ago and 28 times less which makes two SARS-CoV-2 has not lost its transmission capacity; in fact, it has increased it with the ómicron variant and, specifically, with its subvariant, the BA.2. But he has seen his aggressiveness. Despite this, the WHO has decided this Wednesday to keep covid-19 at the pandemic level and has asked “not to let our guard down”.

The severity of the coronavirus is now less than a year ago, despite the fact that restrictions they are now practically non-existent compared to past times. The vaccine efficacy (in Catalonia, 86.6% of those over 12 years of age have the complete schedule; last year at Easter, 5.63% had it) has played an essential role in the clear path to normalization.

With the strategy change of control of the pandemic (Spain no longer counts case by case, but only the most serious or those reported in health centers), the number of patients admitted to hospitals and ICUs has become the most reliable indicator. “We have to get used to this new measuring tape. The important thing is the data from the hospitals. And they prove that, right now, covid-19 is not stressing the health system,” he says. Antoni Trilla, epidemiologist of the Preventive Medicine Service of the Hospital Clinic from Barcelona.

According to Trilla, the Clinic continues to see patients with coronavirus in its emergencies, but of these “few” enter and those who do are sick “Mostly mild.” “in hospitals we are admitting almost more patients ‘with’ covid [los que dan positivo en la PCR rutinaria, pero que ingresan por otros motivos] that not ‘because of’ covid”, He says. The epidemiologist insists that there is still a “difference” between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated: the former do not usually have complications (except for those who have underlying pathologies or belong to vulnerable groups).

The numbers, however, point to an increase, at the moment moderate, in infections in Catalonia. The reproduction rate (the rt, that marks the speed at which the virus is transmitted) has now been located in 1.07which indicates (by passing the point) that the pandemic is once again in expansion. “The trend is that the decline that we saw until now stops. Even that [la pandemia] go back up,” says Trilla.

The Holy Week Bridge, in which there will be social gatherings, will likely bring with it a increase in infections. Trilla insists that, despite this, what will continue to matter most is hospital pressure, which for now is not being affected. We will also have to be attentive, starting next Wednesday, April 20, to the possible effects of the removal of masks indoors. “Logically, it is to be expected that there will be more infections. That is why we must insist that especially the most vulnerable people maintain, as far as possible, all precautions”, adds the epidemiologist.

Catalonia yesterday reached the 27,000 deaths from covid-19 since the pandemic started. Despite the fact that the severity of the virus has decreased, the truth is that an average of 38 deaths a week occur in the territory. The emergency committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) has been “unanimous” this Wednesday in estimating that “This is not the time to let your guard down” in the words of its president, Didier Houssin.

Thus, the WHO has decided to maintain covid-19 at the pandemic level and consider this a “health emergency” causing international concern. “The situation, regarding covid-19, is far from over”, Houssin said.